Cook does not include immigration among his main campaign focus areas and has not made public comments on immigration policy or ICE activity in North Carolina.

Cook has focused much of her campaign on health issues, even discussing her own breast cancer treatment during the campaign. The central theme of her platform is making healthcare more affordable, including through community clinics, expanding preventive care, and investing in long-term cost-reduction solutions. She currently serves as the executive director of the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics and, in 2024 and 2025, co-led a task force that explored ways to extend healthcare to North Carolinians who remained uninsured even after the Medicaid expansion.

Affordability is also a major theme in Cook's campaign, but she focuses on the failures of lawmakers and public systems that force households to bear greater financial strain. In a recent video, she criticized the North Carolina General Assembly for finally passing a budget—a year late—that did not address housing affordability, access to health care, or rising utility costs. “Nothing that actually makes it easier to live in this state,” Cook said. She advocates for the responsible use of taxpayer money but has not taken a position on the two tax-related measures that will be on the November ballot.

Cook campaigns to make public school funding a priority, arguing that public schools are often “asked to do more with less and then blamed for outcomes determined by policy decisions.” Her platform includes paying competitive salaries to teachers and rewarding schools that achieve results. She opposes vouchers for private schools, stating on social media that they are “killing public schools,” and calling for the money spent on them to be redirected to public education.

Cook presents herself as an advocate for working families, but offers no details on what worker protections she supports. She has not commented on the minimum wage, heat protections for workers, or whether she would support a ban on federal immigration enforcement operations on farms and construction sites.

Cook does not mention AI technology or regulation in any of his campaign materials, and because he has never held elected office, he has no legislative record to indicate his position on this issue.

Cook's campaign focuses on housing affordability as one of the ways local families are facing economic pressure. She says she wants to support policies that “promote housing stability and predictability” and address the “root causes” of rising costs, not just short-term fixes. When the North Carolina General Assembly passed a budget in July—a year late—she criticized it for doing nothing about housing affordability, indicating that she believes lawmakers have a role to play in housing policy.

Immigration is not a top campaign priority for Crutchfield, but he has explicitly stated that he does not support sanctuary city policies to protect undocumented immigrants and that closing the country's border is the way to ensure internal security. When he served in the state House of Representatives, Crutchfield supported a bill requiring state sheriffs and jail officials to cooperate with federal immigration agents.

As a member of the House of Representatives, Crutchfield supported Medicaid expansion and has maintained that position throughout his 2026 Senate campaign, though he qualifies it with concerns about fiscal sustainability and fraud. He said in a candidate interview earlier this year that he believes the biggest barrier to accessing health care is the shortage of providers and services, especially in rural areas.

Inflation and affordability are central messages of Crutchfield's campaign, and he promotes lower taxes, fewer regulations, less government spending, and policies to raise wages and foster economic development as solutions. In the House of Representatives, he voted for a budget that accelerated reductions in the state personal income tax. Crutchfield's current campaign also focuses on reducing property taxes, which he claims to believe are unconstitutional.

Crutchfield has explicitly spoken out during this campaign in favor of raising teacher salaries and has said that North Carolina's low wages have become a "recruitment and retention problem." He supports eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and voted in 2023 to expand the state's Opportunity Scholarship program. Crutchfield said in 2024 that he was fully in favor of state funding following the child, whether to a public, private, or homeschooled education, but he previously cautioned that such programs need limits.

Crutchfield has direct experience in both the construction and agricultural industries, owning a cattle ranch in Cabarrus County. But while his platform emphasizes support for small business owners, it makes no mention of worker protections. In a recent candidate questionnaire, when asked about his position on the minimum wage, he said he believed workers should be compensated based on the “productive output of the services they provide.” He has not commented on heat protections for workers or whether he would support a ban on federal immigration enforcement operations on farmland and construction sites.

Crutchfield does not have a comprehensive platform for regulating artificial intelligence, but he does have a relevant legislative track record: while in the House of Representatives, he co-sponsored a bill that would have required disclosure when AI was used in political ads, though it ultimately failed to pass the Senate. This suggests he supports transparency in AI use, but he has not taken a position on regulating the industry or data centers.

Crutchfield's campaign repeatedly cites the high cost of housing in Cabarrus County as one of the factors making life unaffordable for local residents. He primarily addresses it as a cost and supply issue; rather than outright housing subsidies, he promotes lower taxes, fewer regulations, and greater housing flexibility as solutions. While in the House of Representatives, he co-sponsored a bill requiring local governments to permit at least one accessory dwelling unit alongside single-family homes in certain areas as a way to increase the supply of affordable housing.